Reading through a list of numbers (like we’re going to do in a bit), is a necessity when getting started. But you’ll never commit those numbers to memory or learn to count in German if you don’t practice on a daily basis.
Here are some ways to bring counting into your schedule:
Count your steps. Start counting the steps (in German) every time you go up or down a set of stairs. This will become habit and ingrain the counting process into your head without even knowing it.
Bring German numbers and counting into your cooking. If you’re one of those folks who likes to cook for yourself at home, consider printing out recipes in German. Even if you’re using a recipe in English, several numbers are scattered throughout the ingredients and procedures, so when you need to count out how many cups are being used in a recipe, do it in German.
Put it to a tune. Sometimes it’s much easier to remember the sequence of numbers when a melody is put behind it. Therefore,check out videos like this one to get a song stuck in your head.
Bring your German counting to the gym. Whether lifting weights or doing crunches, counting your reps and sets comes into play for improving yourself physically. This is the perfect time to run through your German counting in your head or out loud.
Call out German numbers when flipping through channels. Watching TV doesn’t always have to be mind numbing. In fact, many people have thousands of channels, so this gives you a chance to look at a number like 653 and say it out loud in German.
Try online games, puzzles and activities. From matching games toquizzes and memory activities, the Internet is packed with opportunities for you to practice and test out your German numbers knowledge.
Counting from 1 to 20
Click “Pronunciation” next to any number to hear it pronounced in German.
Once you get past 20, the German numbers start sounding strange compared to English. The number order is backwards with higher numbers (i.e. drei und zwanzigfor 23.) Looked at literally, this number says “three and twenty,” so you put the ones digit number first, include an “und” (and) and say the word “twenty” in German. This process stays consistent all the way up to 99.
If we count by tens, the numbers are pretty straightforward.
Important: Notice how the teens are slightly different from the the way you’d say numbers like 20 and 30. Zehn (ten) is placed at the end of each word for the teens, while zig or ßig (umpteen) is put at the end for higher numbers.
Take a moment to randomly pick out numbers to see if you can create the German version. Since we’re learning how to count, we recommend starting with sets of 10, so working through a set like 50 to 59 is a great way to get these increments into your head.
Counting to 100, 1000, 10000, 1 Million and Beyond
Once you reach the hundreds, it becomes a little more logical in number sequence.
100 – (ein)hundert
1,000 – (ein)tausend
10,000 – zehntausend
200,000 – zweihunderttausend
1 million – eine Million
Keep in mind, however, that when counting in this high range of numbers, you still use the same structure if you have numbers like 22 or 45 tagged onto the end of the 1,000 or 10,000.
For example:
1,220 – tausendzweihundertzwanzig (To help you out with the number structure in German, the literal translation for this would be “one thousand two hundred twenty.”)
1,221 – tausendzweihunderteinundzwanzig
1,222 – tausendzweihundertzweiundzwanzig
1,223 – tausendzweihundertdreiundzwanzig
As you can see, the sequence of numbers is fairly similar to the way in which you would say it in English, except the words are smashed together and you have to remember to follow the rules for numbers between 20 and 99. So, for 9,999, it would be neuntausendneunhundertneunundneunzig, or more literally, nine thousand nine hundred nine and ninety.
Now, Get Counting!
Chances are, you’ll rarely have to count up to one million, but if you’re doing business and counting money, or pulling a Ron Burgundy to impress someone with how many curls you can do, counting in the thousands is not an unheard of practice.
Your best bet is to stick with some of the methods for practicing counting and numbers, so bring German into your workouts, count the number of steps on a staircase and play around with German counting exercises online. After a while, counting in German will become second nature, and you’ll be counting German sheep as you go to bed.
Thanks to its lifelong love affair with compound nouns, the German language has smashed all manner of words together to form new, unique vocabulary. It’s no small wonder that German boasts many unique, highly-specific words that have no literal English translation. Learning these words is like getting a special prize: for being able to express yourself in ways your own language has no equivalent - unless you use a whole sentence! [Other language user can get word-envy when comparing their language to German.]
Many of these descriptive German compounds have found their way into the English language, like Kindergarten,Schadenfreude and Wanderlust. But as you'll see, there are many more beyond those. Here are 18 more. Pay attention, and you'll see how easy is can be to form these compounds. If you get the hang of this way of communication, it won't be long before you'll find yourself creating more German compound words on your own.
Have you ever listened to a song on the radio while driving to work only to find yourself still humming the same tune by lunch time? Congratulations, you’ve had an ear worm. The beautiful German word Ohrwurm describes the fact of having a song stuck in your head as if it wriggled itself into your brain through your ear. (Dein Ohrwurm is also the title of a WiseGuys song - an NKHS Deutschklub Favorite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9CtlJwh9b4 )
2. Fernweh (Distance pain; a longing for something in the distance; die Ferne = the distance; das Weh = woe)
This gem describes the feeling of wanting to be somewhere else. It’s kind of like a reverse homesickness (Heimweh in German), a longing for a place that isn’t where you are right now. Fernweh is also a frequent reason for people in Germany to go on holiday.
3. Kummerspeck (Grief bacon; der Kummer = grief, heartache; der Speck = bacon)
When a relationship ends or during other times of sadness, anger, or worry, it’s common to put on a few pounds of Kummerspeck. What it means is the excess weight put on by emotional overeating. So when you find yourself on the couch watching “Bridget Jones’ Diary” with a tub of ice cream, you are in fact feeding your grief bacon.
4. Innerer Schweinehund (Inner pig hound)
Can’t get up in the morning to be on time for work? Too lazy to go to the gym? Homework remains undone until the last minute? Don’t worry, it’s not your fault. The blame lies with yourinner pig hound. That’s the tiny voice in the back of your head which is trying to convince you to live a life of inertia and which you will have to overcome to rid yourself of Kummerspeck.
5. Fremdschämen (Exterior shame; fremd = foreign; strange; sich schämen - to feel ashamed of ...)
For those of you who cringe in phantom pain when others make a fool of themselves, this is your word. It describes the feeling of shame when seeing someone else in an uncomfortable or embarrassing situation. It’s a real thing for the more empathetic folk and has kept more than one person from watching “the Office.”
6. Torschlusspanik (Closing-gate panic)
As people get older, some find themselves worrying about roads not taken or milestones they meant to achieve by a certain age but haven’t. Torschlusspanik is the feeling of urgency to accomplish them before some imaginary gate closes and “it’s all too late.” It’s mostly used for those who sense their biological clock is running out and feel the need to settle with a partner or have children immediately.
7. Treppenwitz (Staircase joke)
Have you ever noticed how when you have a chance encounter with an attractive person of the opposite sex or get into an argument with someone, the best jokes, lines, and comebacks always occur to you afterwards? That’s the so-called Treppenwitz. It’s the joke that comes to your mind on the way down the stairs after talking to your neighbor in the hallway two floors up.
8. Lebensmüde (Life exhaustion)
This word literally means being tired of life and was used to describe the dramatic and soul-crushing emotional agony of young Romantic poets (see also Weltschmerz and Weichei). Nowadays lebensmüde is what you call your friends when they are attempting something especially stupid and possibly life threatening. Most people in fail videos on YouTube suffer from latent Lebensmüdigkeit - the noun form of this word.
9. Weltschmerz (World pain)
The world isn’t perfect. More often than not it fails to live up to what we wish it was. Weltschmerz describes the pain we feel at this discrepancy. It can be one of the main drivers for Kummerspeck.
10.Weichei(Soft egg; das Ei = egg)
No, a Weichei isn’t what you order in the hotel when you want a three-minute egg for breakfast. In fact the waiter might look at you slightly disconcerted for accusing him of being a wuss. A soft egg, in German, means someone who is weak and cowardly. The same is also conveyed by calling someone Würstchen, the diminutive of sausage. Apparently Germans like to name wimps after foodstuffs.
In fact, the plural form might also come in handy:die Weicheier. In fact, Hope Solo (the US Goalkeeper in Rio) might have used it when she described the Swedish soccer players who dethroned the US team, based on their non-aggressive, defensive game yesterday in the Quarter Finals.
11. Backpfeifengesicht (Slap face; backen = to bake; also the backside of something; die Pfeife = pipe; die Backpfeife = hmmm. slap with the back of one's hand?! das Gesicht = face)
Have you ever heard the joke “Some people just need a high five – in the face – with a chair?” Backpfeifengesicht kind of goes in the same direction. It describes someone who you feel needs a slap in the face.
Disclaimer: we’re telling you this for informational purposes only and do not in any way condone violence.
12. Erklärungsnot (Explanation need; die Not [say : note] = need; trouble; even poverty)
Erklärungsnot is a state shared by cheating spouses, lying politicians, and school children without their homework alike. It’s what you find yourself in when put on the spot without a sufficient explanation or excuse for something you have done or failed to do. Most often used in the form of in Erklärungsnot geraten[raten=to guess; here, to be found out-- and therefore in urgent need to come up with a solid explanation] or in Erklärungsnot sein [sein=to be; here, to find yourself needing a solid explanation].
13. Sitzfleisch (Sit- or seat- meat; an abundance of meat on your "sit-upon")
As much as it sounds like it, Sitzfleisch isn’t a recipe of German Hausfrauen that involves tenderizing meat by placing it under your buttocks. Instead, it describes a character trait. Those who possess a lot of seat meat are able to sit through and weather something incredibly hard or boring. It’s like carrying your own personal cushion around with you.
14. Purzelbaum (Tumble tree)
This tree is so common in Germany that every child knows it. However, if you are about to take out your big German botanical dictionary, let me stop you right there. Despite the name, a Purzelbaum isn’t part of the kingdom of plants. Instead, it describes a somersault on the ground, a favorite way of children to get their clothes dirty.
[Don't mix this up as I have with the Rad schlagen, or turning a cartwheel. Duesseldorf is Germany's capital for Radschläger. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BCsseldorfer_Radschl%C3%A4ger There is even a door knocker in the shape of a child turning a cartwheel on the door of the St. Lambertus church there. -rsb]
15. Dreikäsehoch (Three cheeses high)
This sounds like it would make a great name for a pizza. However, what it describes is a person who is vertically challenged, implying they’re only as tall as three wheels of cheese placed on top of each other. Usually this label is reserved for small children, together with Zwerg [=dwarf] or Pimpf [=little rascal].
16. Zungenbrecher (Tongue breaker)
While it sounds like a medieval torture instrument, the nature of the Zungenbrecher is much less gruesome. It is the German equivalent of tongue twister, a phrase that’s very hard to pronounce even for native speakers due to its sequence of letters. A very common one in German is Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut und Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid. Yeah, practice that for a while and say it 10 times fast.
17. Schattenparker (Shadow parker)
This word is part of a series of insults for men which accuse them of unmanly behavior. In this case, of parking their car in the shadow to avoid heating up the interior. These kinds of derogatory terms were something of a meme some years back and whole lists of them exist on the internet. Alternatives include Warmduscher(=someone who showers with warm water; die Dusche = shower); Sitzpinkler(a man who urinates while sitting down); or Turnbeutelvergesser(someone who used to forget their gym bag in cardio class; das Beutel = sack or pouch. So, can you guess which animal the Beutelbär might be?).
18. Kuddelmuddel (???)
I know, great final word right? Don’t even start guessing its English meaning. Kuddelmuddel describes an unstructured mess, chaos, or hodgepodge. Alternatives which are equally awesome include Tohuwabohu, Wirrwarr, Mischmasch, and Kladderadatsch. I know, some of these just sound too far-fetched to be true. Well, they are far-fetched – gathered in the distant land of Germany. If you’re still convinced I’m making up words, go ahead and look them up in the dictionary!
I was halfway through a job interview in Chicago when I realized I was wrinkling
my nose. I couldn't help myself. A full-time freelance position with a
long commute, no benefits, and a quarter of my old pay was the best they
could do? I couldn't hide how I felt about that, and the 25-year-old
conducting the interview noticed.
"Are you interested in permanent jobs instead?" she asked.
"I could consider a permanent job if it was part-time," I said.
She looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language and went right back to her pitch: long commute, full-time, no benefits. No way, I thought. Who would want to do that?
And then it hit me: Either I had become a completely privileged jerk or
my own country was not as amazing as I had once thought it to be. This
wasn't an unusually bad offer: It was just American Reality.
Now that I'm back, I'm angry that my own country isn't providing more for its people.
Before I moved to Switzerland for almost a decade, American Reality
was all I knew. I was living in a two-bedroom apartment making $30,000 a
year in a job where I worked almost seven days a week with no overtime
pay and received 10 days of paid time off a year.
In other words, for the hours worked, I was making minimum wage, if
that. The glamour of this job was supposed to make up for the hours, but
in reality, working every weekend is a ticket to burnout — not success.
My husband and I were so accustomed to American Reality that when he
was offered an opportunity to work in Switzerland, we both thought about
travel and adventure — not about improving our quality of life. It
hadn't occurred to us that we could improve our quality of life simply by moving.
But without realizing it, or even asking for it, a better life
quality came to us. And this is why, now that I'm back, I'm angry that
my own country isn't providing more for its people. I will never regret
living abroad. It taught me to understand another culture. And it taught
me to see my own. But it also taught me something else — to lose touch
with the American version of reality.
Here are seven ways living abroad made it hard to return to American life.
1) I had work-life balance
The Swiss work hard, but they have a strong work-life balance. According to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,
the average Swiss worker earned the equivalent of $91,574 a year in
2013, while the average American worker earned only $55,708. But the
real story is that the average American had to work 219 hours more per
year for this lesser salary.
Which brings us to lunch. In Switzerland, you don't arrive to a
meeting late, but you also don't leave for your lunch break a second
past noon. If it's summer, jumping into the lake to swim with the swans
is an acceptable way to spend your lunch hour. If you eat a sandwich at
your desk, people will scold you. I learned this the hard way.
"Ugh," said Tom, a Swiss art director I shared an office with at a
Zurich ad agency. "It smells like someone ate their lunch in here." He
threw open the windows and fanned the air.
"They did. I ate a sandwich here," I said.
Tom looked at me like I was crazy.
"No. Tomorrow you're having a proper lunch. With me," he said.
The next day, exactly at noon, we rode the funicular to a restaurant
where we dined al fresco above Zurich. After lunch, we strolled down the
hill. I felt guilty for being gone for an hour and a half. But no one
had missed us at the office.
Lunchtime is sacred time in Switzerland. When I was on maternity
leave, my husband came home for lunch to help me care for our daughter.
This strengthened our marriage. Many families still reunite during
weekdays over the lunch hour.
Weekends in Switzerland encourage leisure time, too. On Sundays, you
can't even shop — most stores are closed. You are semi-required to hike
in the Alps with your family. It's just what you do.
The author and her daughter in Urnaesch, Switzerland, watching the cows come home. (Brian Opyd)
2) I had time and money
The Swiss have a culture of professional part-time work, and as a
result, part-time jobs include every benefit of a full-time job,
including vacation time and payment into two Swiss pension systems.
Salaries for part-time work are set as a percentage of a professional
full-time salary because unlike in the United States, part-time jobs
are not viewed as necessarily unskilled jobs with their attendant lower
pay.
During my Swiss career, I was employed by various companies from 25
percent to 100 percent. When I worked 60 percent, for example, I worked
three days a week. A job that is 50 percent could mean the employee
works five mornings a week or, as I once did, two and a half days a
week. The freedom to choose the amount of work that was right for me at
varying points of my life was wonderful and kept me engaged and happy.
When I took only 10 days for a trip to Spain, my colleagues chastised me for taking so little time off
Often, jobs in Switzerland are advertised with the percentage of work
that is expected. Other times, you can negotiate what percentage you
would like to work or request to go from working five days a week to
four days a week, for example. There is normally little risk involved in
asking.
One married couple I knew each worked 80 percent, which meant they
each spent one day a week at home with their child, limiting the child's
time in day care to three days a week while continuing full
professional lives for both of them. According to a recent article in
the New York Times, "Why U.S. Women Are Leaving Jobs Behind,"
81 percent of women in Switzerland are in the workforce, versus 69
percent in the US. I believe attitudes toward professional part-time
work — for both men and women — have a lot to do with this.
3) I had the support of an amazing unemployment system
About three years into my Swiss life, I lost my job. And I discovered
that in Switzerland, being on unemployment meant you received 70 to 80 percent of your prior salary
for 18 months. The Swiss government also paid for me to take German
classes, and when I wasn't looking for jobs, I could afford to write a
book.
In the United States, on the other hand, unemployment benefits
generally pay workers between 40 and 50 percent of their previous
salary, and these benefits only last for six months on average. However,
thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, some
unemployed people now receive up to 99 weeks of benefits.
4) I witnessed what happens when countries impose wealth-based taxes
Compared with taxes in the United States, Swiss taxes are easy on the
average worker. For example, a worker earning the average wage of
$91,574 would pay only about 5 percent of that in Swiss federal income tax.
Instead of taxing salaries at high percentages — a practice that puts
most of the tax burden on the middle class, where most income comes from
wages and not from capital gains — Switzerland immediately taxes dividends at a maximum of 35 percent and also has a wealth-based tax.
While the American tax system is supposed to be progressive — so the more you earn, the more taxes you pay — up to 39.6 percent tax for the highest income brackets, the superrich escape paying these kind of taxes because they aren't making most of their money in wages.
For example, in 2010, Mitt Romney,
whose total income was $21.6 million, paid only $3 million in taxes, or
a tax rate of about 14 percent, which is amazing when you consider this
is the same tax rate American families earning wages from about $16,750 to $68,000 paid in 2010.
The Swiss taxation method leaves money in the pocket of the average worker — and allows them to save accordingly. The average adult in Switzerland has a net worth worth of $513,000 according to the 2013 Credit Suisse Wealth Report. Average net worth among adults in the US is half that.
While I witnessed the benefits of the Swiss tax system for the
average person, I did not benefit from them due to my American
citizenship. Instead, I paid both Swiss tax and American tax while
living in Switzerland. Unfortunately, the US is one of the only nations
in the world where tax is citizen-based instead of resident-based. (China, in a new push to enforce tax law for citizens working abroad, is one of the others, along with Eritrea.)
5) I had lots of paid vacation time; was never made to feel guilty about taking it
At my former American job, I received 10 days of paid vacation per
year, and each of those days came with a sizable portion of guilt if
actually used. But in Switzerland, my husband's company gave employees
six weeks of vacation a year. Most of the Swiss companies I worked for
gave four — the legal minimum is four. Moreover, everything shut
down between Christmas and New Year's, giving most employees like me
another guaranteed week off.
People in Europe took vacation seriously. Once, when I only took
10 days for a trip to Spain, my colleagues chastised me for taking so
little time off. I learned to take vacation chunks in two-week
intervals. Well rested, I noticed that I felt more productive and
creative when I returned to work. Recent American research confirms what I was feeling: Relaxing can make you more productive. So why don't Americans embrace vacation time?
6) I never had to own a car
I'm currently cringing at the idea of being required to buy a car. A
Honda dealer here in Chicago recently quoted me $18,000 for a 2012
Accord, and that seems like a lot of money — especially when you still
need to pay for insurance, gasoline, and repairs. The price is even more
daunting for someone who isn't used to being required to pay for such a
thing.
The freedom to choose the amount of work that was right for me kept me engaged and happy
Not owning a car is financially freeing — and it saves the environment, too. In Switzerland, 21 percent of households do not own a car, versus 9.2 percent in the US.
The Swiss train connects to the bus that connects to the cable car to
get you on the slopes in the middle of nowhere at the scheduled second.
From Zurich, I could also take a high-speed train to Paris in three and
a half hours. Now I can barely get from the western suburbs to the
north side of Chicago in that amount of time — let alone have the option
to do it carless. This means I'm turning down jobs instead of taking
them. This isn't good for the American economy or for me.
And let's be clear: Living in a city suburb is no excuse for having
bad transit options. I lived exactly the same distance from Zurich that I
now live from Chicago (15 miles) but shared none of the public
transport frustrations.
7) I had excellent health care when I gave birth — and then enjoyed a fully paid 14-week maternity leave
When I gave birth in Switzerland, I was encouraged to stay five days
in the hospital. So I did. The $3,000 bill for the birth and hospital
stay was paid in full by my Swiss insurance. As was the required
midwife, who came to my apartment for five days after I came home from
the hospital to check on both my health and my baby's.
Had I been in the US for my delivery, the cost would have been much
higher — and the quality of care arguably lower. The average price for a
vaginal birth in the US is $30,000 and includes an average of less than a two-day hospital stay.
Swiss law also mandates a 14-week maternity leave
at a minimum of 80 percent pay. I was lucky enough to receive 100
percent pay.
Compare that with the US, where new mothers aren't
guaranteed any paid time off after giving birth. In Switzerland, it's
also common to choose how much work to return to after having a child.
Since my Swiss job at the time had been full time, I chose to return at
60 percent.
Other American friends in Switzerland who gave birth also chose to
return to their careers part time: My engineering manager friend chose
70 percent, and my lawyer friend chose 80 percent. We had great careers,
we had balance, and we also had a Swiss government that paid a monthly
child stipend whether we needed it or not. For Americans like me, Swiss
Reality was privilege.
Finally, finally, after almost a decade abroad, my husband and I
decided we needed to go home to see what home felt like -- or to see if the
US even felt like home anymore. So we put our Swiss residence
permits on hold for two years and went back to Chicago.
While I enjoy being close to family again, returning to the US made me realize who I've become:
Someone who can't believe
companies aren't required to pay into a pension fund beyond Social
Security.
Someone who is offended that most women in America don't have
the maternity benefits she had.
someone who is mad that she must own a car for lack of
efficient public transportation.
Someone who, because of all of this, is
still debating where she ultimately wants to call home.
